IN ANSWER TO YOUR QUERY

COPYRIGHT

OFFICE

101 Independence

Avenue, S.E.

Washington, D.C.

20559-6000

LIBRARY

OF

CONGRESS

FL

101

PSEUDONYMS

A pseudonym or pen name may be used by an author of a copyrighted work. A work

is pseudonymous if the author is identified on copies or phonorecords of that work by

a fictitious name (nicknames or other diminutive forms of one’s legal name are not considered “fictitious”). As is the case with other names, the pseudonym itself is not protected by copyright.

If you are writing under a pseudonym but wish to be identified by your legal name

in the records of the Copyright Office, you should give your legal name followed by

your pseudonym at the “name of author” line at space 2 of the application (example:

“Judith Barton whose pseudonym is Madeline Elster”). You should also check “yes” in

the box at space 2 which asks “Was this author’s contribution to the work pseudonymous?” If the author is identified in the records of the Copyright Office, the term of the

copyright is the author’s life plus 70 years.

If you are writing under a pseudonym but do not wish to have your identity revealed

in the records of the Copyright Office, you should give your pseudonym and identify it

as such (example: “Huntley Haverstock, pseudonym”) or you may leave the “name of

author” space blank. You must, however, identify the citizenship or domicile of the

author.

In no case should space 4 (name of copyright claimant) be left blank. You may use a

pseudonym in completeing the claimant space, but you should also be aware that if a

copyright is held under a fictitious name, business dealings involving that property may

raise questions of ownership of the copyright property. You should consult an attorney

for legal advice on these matters.

If the author is not identified in the records of the Copyright Office, the term of copyright is 95 years from publication of the work, or 120 years from its creation, whichever

term expires first. If the author’s identity is later revealed in the records of the Copyright Office, the copyright term then becomes the author’s life plus 70 years.

Sincerely yours,

Register of Copyrights

Enclosures

Pseudonyms

June 1999—10,000
A copyright registration is effective on

the date of receipt in the Copyright Office of

all required elements in acceptable form, regardless of the length of time it takes to process the application and mail the certificate

of registration. The length of time required

by the Copyright Office to process an application varies from time to time, depending

on the amount of material received. Remember that it takes a number of days for

mail to reach the Copyright Office and for

the certificate of registration to reach the recipient after being mailed from the Copyright Office.

You will receive no acknowledgement

that your application for copyright registration has been received (the Office receives

more than 500,000 applications annually),

but you may expect:

● A letter or telephone call from a Copyright Office staff member if further information is needed; and

● A certificate of registration to indicate

the work has been registered, or if the

application cannot be accepted, a letter

explaining why it has been rejected.

You might not receive either of these until

approximately 8 months after submission.

If you want to know when the Copyright

Office received your material, send it via

registered or certified mail and request a return receipt.

For further information, write:

Library of Congress

Copyright Office

Information Section, LM-401

101 Independence Ave., S.E.

Washington, D.C. 20559-6000

If you need additional application forms

for copyright registration, call (202) 707-9100

at any time. Leave your request as a recorded

message on the Copyright Office Forms and

Publications Hotline in Washington, D.C.

Please specify the kind and number of forms

you need. If you have general information

questions and wish to talk to an information

specialist, call (202) 707-3000, TTY (202) 707-

6737.

You may also photocopy blank application forms; however, photocopied forms

submitted to the Copyright Office must be

clear, legible, on a good grade of 8 1/2-inch by

11-inch white paper suitable for automatic

feeding through a scanner/photocopier.

The forms should be printed, preferably in

black ink, head-to-head (so that when you

turn the sheet over, the top of page 2 is directly behind the top of page 1). Forms not

meeting these requirements will be returned to the originator.

All U.S. Copyright Office application

forms are available from the Copyright Office Website at www.loc.gov/copyright.

They may be downloaded and printed for

use in registering a claim to copyright or for

use in renewing a claim to copyright.

You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader

installed on your computer to view and

print the forms. The free Adobe® Acrobat®

Reader may be downloaded from Adobe

Systems Incorporated through links from

the same Internet site at which the forms are

available.

Print forms head to head (top of page 2 is

directly behind the top of page 1) on a single

piece of good quality, 8 1/2-inch by 11-inch

white paper. To achieve the best quality

copies of the application forms, use a laser

printer.

Frequently requested Copyright Office

circulars, announcements, and recently proposed as well as final regulations are also

available from the Copyright Office

Website.

Copyright Office circulars and announcements are available via fax. Call

(202) 707-2600 from any touchtone telephone. Key in your fax number at the prompt

and the document number of the item(s) you

want to receive by fax. The item(s) will be

transmitted to your fax machine. If you do

not know the document number of the

item(s) you want, you may request that a

menu be faxed to you. You may order up to

three items at a time. Note that copyright application forms are not available by fax.

How Long Does Copyright Registration Take?

Library of Congress • Copyright Office • 101 Independence Avenue, S.E. • Washington, D.C. 20559-6000

http://www.loc.gov/copyright

PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER ✩U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1999-454-879/7